Easy-open tear strip lid

Abstract

A reclosable plastic lid having a peripheral flange with a substantially annular projection that engages an annular shoulder on a container sidewall to retain the lid initially on the container full of contents. The flange is formed with a weakened portion defining a tear strip which removes to detach spaced portions of the flange along with portions of the annular projections leaving flange portions which are folded upwardly about hinge lines to retracted positions out of locking engagement with said annular shoulder. With the tear strip removed and the remaining flange portions pivoted outwardly toward horizontal positions, it is much easier to remove the lid from the container. When the lid is re-applied to reclose the container, the remaining attached, flange portions are pivoted down into engagement with container shoulder to retain the lid on the container and thereby, prevent spillage of the container's contents.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An easy-opening, resilient plastic lid for use with a container having a sidewall terminating at an upper rim with an adjacent locking bead, the combination comprising: a circular body portion;   a peripheral skirt extending downwardly from the body portion and terminating at a lower edge;   a substantially annular projection on said skirt extending radially inwardly for engagement with the container bead when said body portion is in sealing engagement with the container rim;   an elongated weakened section on said skirt extending around the periphery of said lid and defining a tear line between a removable tear strip portion of said skirt and lid-retaining portions of said skirt, removal of said tear strip detaching from said lid removable spaced portions of said skirt including first portions of said annular projection positioned between the lid-retaining portions of said skirt and leaving second annular projection portions of the annular projection in use;   said lid-retaining portions being deflectable outwardly away from said container to a release position in which portions of the annular projection thereon are moved outwardly relative to the container bead to allow easy removal of the lid from the container;   the tear line having upper tear line portions located above the removable spaced portions of the skirt and having lower tear line portions located below the lid retaining portions of the skirt;   angled tear line portions of the tear line extending at an angle to and between the upper tear line portions and the lower tear line portions;   a hinge line of reduced cross-sectional thickness in the skirt positioned above the lid-retaining portions of the skirt to facilitate upward pivoting of the lid-retaining portions; and   barrier portions of increased cross-sectional thickness between said hinge lines and the upper tear line portions and at the angled tear line portions to act as barriers to tearing of the skirt from the upper tear line portions into the hinge lines instead of tearing into and along the angled tear line portions.   
     
     
       2. An easy-open, resilient plastic lid in accordance with claim 1 wherein said lid-retaining portions of said skirt are each formed with a thin hinge section positioned above the second annular projection portions to allow pivoting of the lid-retaining portions upwardly to the release position and downwardly into a retaining position to again engage the container bead to retain the lid on the container. 
     
     
       3. A resilient plastic lid in accordance with claim 2 wherein the annular projections on the lid-retaining portions of said skirt form a substantially annular ring for face-to-face engagement with the bead on the container wherein the sealing position, said annular ring being positioned adjacent said hinge sections. 
     
     
       4. An easy-open, resilient plastic lid in accordance with claim 3 wherein said body portion is provided with a second depending skirt spaced radially inwardly from said peripheral skirt and positioned to engage the inner circumference of the container rim, said second skirt and said peripheral skirt forming a downwardly facing annular channel to receive the container rim. 
     
     
       5. An easy-open, resilient plastic lid in accordance with claim 4 wherein the lid is a five gallon lid formed of high density polyethylene having a melt index between 5 and 10, and a density of about 0.9. 
     
     
       6. An easy-open, resilient plastic lid in accordance with claim 2 wherein said tear line extends around the circumference of said peripheral skirt on a zig-zag line with the upper tear line portions of said tear line being above said annular projection and parallel to peripherally spaced portions below and parallel to said annular projection with the angled tear line portions interconnecting ends of the upper tear line portions above said annular projection to ends of the lower tear line portions below said annular projection, the zig-zag line being visible to a user on the exterior of the peripheral skirt, and barrier portions of increased cross-sectional thickness between the tear line and the hinge sections. 
     
     
       7. The plastic lid of claim 1 in which the substantially annular projection on the skirt comprises spaced areas of reduced cross-sectional thickness located on the inside of the skirt, the angled tear line sections being in the form of V-shaped grooves on the outside of the skirt,   the angled tear line portions of the tear line sections each extending across the spaced areas of reduced cross-sectional thickness of the substantially annular projection to facilitate tearing of the tear strip from the skirt.   
     
     
       8. The plastic lid of claim 1 and a plastic container in combination therewith, the container comprising: a container body with an encircling sidewall, an upper rim on the container body sidewall, and a locking bead on the container rim for locking engagement with the substantially annular projection on the skirt of the plastic lid.   
     
     
       9. In combination; a reclosable resilient plastic lid and a container having a sidewall terminating at an upper edge and having an outwardly extending annular shoulder adjacent said edge, the combination comprising: a circular body portion having an outer depending peripheral flange and an inner flange spaced radially inwardly of said outer flange and forming a downwardly facing channel which receives the upper edge of said container sidewall;   said outer flange being formed with an inwardly directed projection means which locks under said annular shoulder on said container to retain said lid in engagement with said upper edge of said container sidewall;   said outer flange being formed with a plurality of lid-retaining segments spaced apart by a plurality of peripherally spaced removable segments, said lid-retaining segments and said removable segments being connected by weakened tear line sections of said outer flange whereby said removable segments may be manually separated from said outer flange to permit removal of said lid from said container;   said lid-retaining segments being hingedly connected to said outer flange along a hinge line above said projection means to swing portions of said projection means on each lid-retaining segment outwardly with respect to said annular shoulder to permit easier removal of said lid from said container;   said lid being retained on an reclosing the container by placing said upper edge of said container in said channel and rotating said lid-retaining segments downwardly against said sidewall to engage the projection means thereon in gripping engagement with the annular shoulder of the container;   the tear line sections being on a radially exterior side of the outer peripheral flange and visible to indicate a tear strip for removal; said hinge line being defined by depressions in said radially exterior side of the outer peripheral flange;   the tear line sections having upper tear line portions located above the spaced removable segments of the outer flange and having lower tear line portions located below the lid-retaining segments of the outer flange;   said inwardly directed projection means on the outer flange having spaced areas of reduced cross-sectional thickness on an interior side of the outer flange;   angled tear line portions of the tear line sections on the exterior side of the outer flange connecting the upper and lower tear line portions and aligned with and extending across the spaced areas of reduced cross-sectional thickness of the projection means on the inside of the outer peripheral flange, first of said angled tear line portions extending down across the areas of reduced cross-sectional thickness to facilitate tearing thereacross in a downwardly direction and others of said tear line portions extending upwardly across areas of said reduced cross-sectional thickness to facilitate tearing thereacross in an upward direction.   
     
     
       10. The combination in accordance with claim 9 wherein said removable segments of said outer flange include portions of said projection means whereby separation of said removable segments and pivoting of said reclosable segments to the release position allows for easier removal of said lid from said container. 
     
     
       11. The combination in accordance with claim 9 wherein said tear strip is formed with a manual pull tab at one end positioned between adjacent hinged lid-retaining segments, said tab having an easily frangible connection at one end to permit separating one end of said tab from said outer flange whereby a manual force may be applied outwardly on said tear strip to separate it from said lid. 
     
     
       12. The combination in accordance with claim 9 wherein said hingeable connection for each lid-retaining segment comprises an elongated thin curved segment of said outer flange. 
     
     
       13. The combination in accordance with claim 9 wherein said annular shoulder on said container lies in a place substantially normal to the axis of said container, said projection means comprising a plurality of spaced portions defining a substantially annular projection, each of the projection portions having a flat upwardly facing surface which engages the surface of said shoulder.